POLYPEPTIDES HAVING SERINE PROTEASE ACTIVITY AND POLYNUCLEOTIDES ENCODING SAME AND THEIR APPLICATION IN ANIMAL FEED

摘要

The present invention relates to animal feed or animal feed additives comprising polypeptides having protease activity and uses thereof. Specifically, the proteases are serine S1 proteases from Janibacter, Terracoccus and Knoellia, all belonging to the family Intrasporangiaceae of the suborder Micrococcineae. The proteases have a high activity at a broad pH-range (pH 3-7) and are thus highly active during the entire passage through the digestive tract. It also relates to the methods for producing the proteases and for using the proteases to improve animal performance and the nutritional value of animal feed.